


Home

by buckleysdiaz



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Secret Relationship, post 3x11, spoilers for 3x11
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23196403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckleysdiaz/pseuds/buckleysdiaz
Summary: “Everything has changed and yet it feels like nothing has changed at all in a matter of months.”A fic based before and after one of the final scenes from 3x11, where Eddie decides to host a last-minute make-up party for Chim at Buck's insistence and Buck and Eddie share a moment after the party that shows that they are well and truly home when they're together.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 357





	Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! After months of reading some incredible Buddie fics, I tried to write my own after that beautiful final sequence in 3x11. I originally wanted to base it around the scene where Buck tells Maddie that he's not really a guest at Eddie's house, but I basically ended up writing a prologue and an epilogue for that scene (if that makes sense).
> 
> Hope you like it!

Everything has changed and yet it feels like nothing has changed at all in a matter of months.

⁂

It had been a particularly lively day for the Diaz household. With Chimney’s birthday falling on a Wednesday this year, Buck, Eddie, Hen and some other members of the 118 had planned to celebrate the “old” man’s birthday a couple of nights later at a karaoke bar that had become a staple of Maddie and Chimney’s unofficial date nights. But when the guest of honour had unexpectedly told off his long-lost half-brother, seemingly shutting him out for good, no one was really in the mood to stick around for the rest of the festivities.

After an unexpectedly uneventful night out, Eddie had awoken once again to the sounds of a flurry of text messages in the 118’s unofficial group chat. It was 10:07 in the morning—the longest that Eddie had managed to sleep in months after having to endure his fair share of night calls. With Christopher spending the night and morning at his abuela’s house, he could afford to hit the snooze button a couple of times. As he slowly rubbed his eyes and sat up in his bed with his phone still connected to the outlet, Eddie quickly skimmed the conversation to figure out what his team could possibly want on one of their few days off.

_Buck: These two like each other again! Who’s free today for a do-over?_

__

_Hen: Yay but I can’t. Karen and I are meeting with social services again today!_

_Cap: I would love to but I can’t either. I have to hold up my end of the weekly Grant-Nash BBQ._

_Buck: Ok, totally get it. Anyone else want to do lunch?_

_Buck: Anyone?_

_Buck: Come on guys, we have to do something!_

From what he could gather, Chimney had made amends with his long-lost kid brother and Buck was now desperately trying to find a way to make up for the previous night’s lack of festivities. Hen and Bobby were busy all day with their own families, but Eddie couldn’t help but smile to himself as he read Buck’s unashamedly one-sided attempts to organize a last-minute party. He had always admired that shamelessly selfless side of his best friend—the side that continuously dives head-first into everything he does, even if it included coordinating a last-minute gathering with half of the station.

Ever since they had secretly decided to take their relationship one step further a few months ago, refusing to add any labels to not add any extra pressure in the process, Eddie has become more acutely aware of Buck’s actions outside of the station. At work, they have always made a great team, moving as a cohesive unit with the rest of their team to tackle any emergency that the city has tried to throw at him. But it’s the little things that Buck does outside of work that have made Eddie’s heart swell more times than he’s willing to admit.

_His fresh home-cooked meals after a long day at work. His genuine excitement at every Buckley-Diaz family movie night. His confirmatory text messages after he drops off or picks up Chris from school. His thoughtful birthday and holiday gifts, including a specific Valentine's Day one that neither of them will ever forget._

For years, Eddie had attempted to convince himself that his personal and professional lives should not mix, but with Buck, those lines had blurred together a long time ago. It would take a lifetime for Eddie to repay Buck for everything that he has done for him and his their son, but he would be damned if he didn’t at least try.

That was why Eddie Diaz suddenly found himself with a coffee in one hand and a vacuum in the other some 10 minutes later, preparing for a last-minute lunch party at his house for Chimney after putting Buck out of misery in the group chat.

_Let’s do it at my place, Buck. 1:00. Anyone who can make it is welcome!_

⁂

With the last of the guests leaving at a quarter past four, Eddie decides to bite his tongue and open the door to his kitchen, dreading the inevitable mess and overflowing garbage that was awaiting him. Since moving to Los Angeles, he had never hosted more than a handful of people all at once, but he knew from his gatherings in Texas that the quiet clean-up was hardly the best part of hosting a party. With Maddie having organized all the food and Chim being considered the guest of honour, Eddie had waved off their offers to help with the clean-up, knowing that the pair was already planning to meet Chim’s “parents” for dinner.

But of course, as soon as he walks in, Buck is already meeting him at the door with a sheepish smile and new recycling and garbage bags in both hands, ready to deal with the impending mess in his kitchen and dining room. Together, the pair moves in quiet unison around the house, quickly disposing of any stray paper plates and napkins and gathering the remaining beer bottles to later recycle at a local liquor store. On any other day, Eddie would normally find himself stressed by any number of things: how long it would take for him to clean up his house, how he was going to get Christopher to school with his early shift on Monday, and how quickly he could fix his signature spaghetti and meatballs while helping his son with his reading homework. But with Buck’s presence around him, it feels like a weight has finally lifted from his shoulders.

Together, they have fallen into a rhythm that transcends their inimitable working relationship. It’s a life of happy domesticity that Eddie has always longed for but never felt like he could attain after his repeated attempts had gone unnoticed with Shannon. There was something so pure and so organic about the evolution of his relationship with Buck that was enough to make his heart flutter and bring him close to tears. After finally beginning to process his unresolved grief over the loss of his late wife, Eddie never felt like he could allow himself to feel truly happy again, but the truth is: He has never been happier. Moving in tandem with his partner, Eddie quickly realizes how surprisingly natural and domestic this feels—almost as if Buck has always lived here, like he has always been part of his and Christopher’s lives.

“What are you smiling about?” Buck says with a bashful grin as he throws the last of the soda cans into the recycling bag near the couch.

Eddie looks up, washcloth in hand, blushing slightly when he realizes that he has been wiping the same spot on his dining room table for the last couple of minutes. “Nothing,” he says, in a tone where Buck can clearly see that he is lying. “Did you have a good time today?”

“Yeah, thanks to you. Thanks for saving me in the group text this morning and for hosting something at the last minute. I don’t think I would have heard the end of it from Hen on Monday if she found out that I didn’t actually go through with this crazy plan.”

“Hey, I have your back, remember?” Eddie says with a suggestive smirk. “Besides, I’m glad that Chim was able to make up with his brother. And it helps that Chris seemed to make a new friend as well.”

Buck lights up at the mention of his favourite kid in the world. “Yeah, well, a friend that was willing to see me get beat up on the couch for a good five minutes while everyone else was arriving,” he adds in a playful tone. “I’m telling you, Eddie, that kid is absolutely ruthless.”

Eddie smiles. “Well, now you finally got a taste of the tickle attack that you instigated last weekend when you and Chris were trying to wake me up with breakfast in bed. I told you about the damage that he could do but you didn’t believe me.”

The two laugh. “Yeah, yeah,” Buck concedes.

“That’s _our_ boy.”

Buck smiles suddenly at the lack of hesitancy in Eddie’s voice in that declaration. In the last few months, he had become even more involved in the Diaz household, offering to drop and pick Christopher off from school in addition to spending his rare nights off with a dinner and movie night with his two favourite boys. More often than not, Buck had found himself choosing to spend the night on the couch, a blue three-seater that could not have been comfortable for a man of his size, before Eddie offered to share his bed. Regardless, it gave Buck an excuse to spend the morning before work with an unwavering smile on his face. He loved Christopher like his own child, and while he never wanted to put any pressure on his partner, hearing Eddie say those three words meant more to him than he would ever know.

With the recycling and garbage bags all tied up and put to the side, Buck makes his way slowly to Eddie’s side of the table. Remaining true to his stubborn and meticulous ways, Eddie is still trying to clean the same spot on the table while Buck remains convinced that the table was already spotless to begin with. Being in close physical contact with Eddie is certainly nothing new to the younger man, but there is something so natural and uninhibited about being able to express himself freely with his best friend that leaves him feeling more content than usual.

Since he had received a clean bill of health from his doctor, Buck felt like his life was slowly beginning to fall back into place with Eddie and Christopher at the centre of it all. After multiple near-death experiences and countless instances where he could have lost the people closest to him, Buck now feels a rare sense of peace, a calm before an inevitable storm that will be sure to rock his world in the near future. But for now, Buck’s focus lies solely in the present and on two of the most important people in his life that have welcomed him into their home with open arms.

“Hey, I forgot to tell you,” Buck starts as Eddie drops the washcloth to turn towards him, their bodies only a few feet away from each other now. “I was on my way here this morning when Maddie practically yelled at me on the phone to bring something. I had to make a pit-stop at the grocery store a couple of blocks from here to pick up those sugar cookies with the blue icing that Chris loves so much.”

“Yeah, I saw. That’s really sweet of you. But Buck... You know that you never have to bring something every time you come over, right?” Eddie says, furrowing his brow in confusion.

“Yeah, well, she told me that it’s just what you do when someone invites you over to your house, but I awkwardly had to tell her that—”

“You’re not a guest. Because you aren’t,” Eddie says unequivocally, cutting him off with a smile.

Buck smiles as a comfortable silence falls on their conversation. Ever since they had decided to give their new relationship a chance, they had fallen into a natural rhythm where they seemed to be even _more_ in-tune with each other’s thoughts and emotions. Buck had always been envious of those obnoxious couples that would do everything together and finish each other’s sentences. But now that he had found that with Eddie, Buck was convinced that there was no better feeling than staring into his partner’s eyes, seeking solace in each other’s presence.

“I missed you last night,” Eddie whispers, momentarily breaking their comfortable silence.

Buck sighs. “Yeah, it only felt right to let Albert stay at my place last night. He’s a great kid. You heard him in the bar with his whole virtues and enlightenment talk. We actually stayed up pretty late just talking about his journey and his plans. He said he still wanted to stick around and make a life for himself here, so I’m glad that Chim came by this morning to smooth things over.”

“It was really nice of you to offer to do that in the first place.”

Buck chuckles and begins to look away, touching the back of his neck. “He actually reminds me of the little brother that I always wanted, but my parents never wanted any more children after they had me. Hell, I don’t even know if they wanted me or Maddie.”

Eddie frowns at the comment. He knew that Buck and Maddie’s parents were never a big part of their lives, but this was the first time that Buck had openly told him about their neglect. In the last year, both of the Buckley siblings had gone through hell and back, but their parents were never anywhere to be found—something that had never sat well with Eddie in all his hours of sitting in different waiting rooms at the hospital.

Buck looks up and tries to change his tone. “The point is... I know exactly what it’s like to be alone, to try to run away from your past to not let it define you. I know what it’s like to try to start over, to try to find a new home when you don’t even know how it feels like to be part of one that wants you. I remember how awful it feels to wake up and feel like you have no one else to talk to.”

Eddie sighs and reaches between them, taking Buck’s right hand and attempting to rub small circles in the back of his hand. “You know you don’t have to be alone anymore, right? I know you felt like you didn’t have anyone to turn to after the tsunami, but you will always have the 118 through thick and thin. You always have Chris. And you always have _me_ so you’ll never have to feel alone again. You’re stuck with me, Buckley, because I am so hopelessly in love with you.”

Buck smiles with happy tears in his eyes. “Yeah, I do. You and Chris are my home.”

He teases, “And you’re in luck, Diaz, because I’m even farther gone when it comes to you. I love you too.”

Suddenly, the sound of Christopher’s crutches in the hallway slowly gets louder as a door opens. In a matter of seconds, the younger Diaz is in the living room, facing Buck and Eddie with a wide grin that cheerfully interrupts their conversation. “Bucky, are you staying for dinner?”

Buck spins around and turns to Christopher with his hand still tightly gripped in Eddie’s behind his back. “Yeah, bud. Why?”

“Can we have our weekly movie night tonight?”

“Well, I don’t see why not,” Eddie chimes in, smiling. “We have a few leftovers for dinner, but who wants some _pizza_?”

⁂

A few hours, a medium pizza and a couple more beers later, Buck and Eddie are sitting on the couch with Christopher fast asleep between them, just as the final credits roll for _Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse_ in the background. As the screen flickers between a mix of different colours, Buck catches Eddie staring fondly at him in the moonlight as Christopher quietly snores against the younger man’s side.

In a matter of months, everything has seemingly changed between them, but in reality, it feels like nothing has changed at all. It seems that the home he was always searching for, the only family that he would ever need, was right in this room, where he no longer felt like a guest.

They say home is where the heart is, and for Evan Buckley, his heart belonged to the Diaz family.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos are definitely appreciated. This is still my first fic, so I hope they will get better as time goes on. :)


End file.
